Cursed

Genesis 11
"God Turned Their Language into 'Babble'"

1-2 At one time, the whole Earth spoke the same language. It so happened that as they moved out of the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled down.
3 They said to one another, "Come, let's make bricks and fire them well." They used brick for stone and tar for mortar.
4 Then they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let's make ourselves famous so we won't be scattered here and there across the Earth."
5 God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.
6-9 God took one look and said, "One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they'll come up with next—they'll stop at nothing! Come, we'll go down and garble their speech so they won't understand each other." Then God scattered them from there all over the world. And they had to quit building the city. That's how it came to be called Babel, because there God turned their language into "babble." From there God scattered them all over the world.

Have you ever realized how many different languages there are in the world? Heck, have you ever realized haw many different kinds there are of one language? In my English class we read a essay called "Mother Tongue" which was about a Asian American who's mother spoke really horrible English. Most people call that type of English "broken English" but I personally agree with the author when she proves that it isn't broken, it is just a different type. At my job I speak to people all the time who don't speak the best English. It always would irritate me that I couldn't understand them or how they couldn't quite process what I was saying to them. I used to say, "If you are going to come to our country, learn the language," now my thoughts are a little different. I totally understand the frustration that comes with not understanding someone. There is like an invisible barrier between the two people that neither of them can overcome. From now on I am going to practice tolerance when it comes to those situations. It is something that we can't change and there's no reason to get worked up over something that you can't change. I am also going to look at this curse of different tongues as a blessing. With each different language there is a different culture, a different past, and a different story and I would love to be enlightened in those differences.

Now that I have talked about other people, I want to talk about myself (something that I really enjoy). I was at one of my jobs when I started writing this post and it made me think about the different Englishes I use. For those of you who don't know I work for the University Call Center here at UNCW. I call parents and alumni and ask them to donate money to the college. Well tonight I was calling alumni, some from the years 1980-89 and also more recent graduates from the last two years. I found my English was a little different when talking to these two totally different groups of people. With the older alum I was speaking in a more formal English. Making sure that I say everything correctly and not using slang words that I would normally use. With the recent grads I talked like they were more friends or other peers. I believe that when you speak to different ages you use a different English. I know that I wouldn't go up to my Nana and say "What up girl? How you be doin'?" but I would definitely say that to one of my friends. Different ages expect you to talk and carry yourself in a different way so you have to speak different Englishes to meet those expectations.